This is such an ultimate early 1980's consoles comparison vid! As someone who's fascinated with retro games history, I can't thank you enough for this video.

@RetroComparisons

11 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for watching:) I really appreciate you taking the time to watch it! BTW in case you're interested, I compared every single arcade game that was ported to a 2nd gen console whether it was one of these or more obscure stuff like the Bally Astrocade. kzread.info/dash/bejne/dWqMucOdpNGYlpM.html

Bro is such a chad and makes hours long videos for us to enjoy. we are lucky to have him.

@RetroComparisons

5 күн бұрын

You're too kind! Thanks so much!

Great Comparison. The Berzerk game on the Coleco was named Frenzy! It was awesome 🤩

amazing video! the time this must have taken is staggering. i only have one suggestion. highlight the border of the screen that the audio is coming from and do each one equally.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much for checking this out! I really like that suggestion, I'll do that the next time I put out a video like this. Yeah this took quite a bit of time, way more than I'd like to admit lol.

@CamaroSS-sy2ei

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisonsThank you for all of your hard work. It’s really interesting to see these systems side by side!

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@CamaroSS-sy2ei Thank you so much for watching it! Knowing that someone like you is checking this stuff out keeps me motivated to keep making more:)

The 5200 and Coleco were the closest thing you could get to arcade at the time. A lot of us didnt give a xrap though. We were just happy to play the games at home......and they werent hard to beat unless you put it on difficult or expert

@retroconsole_

6 ай бұрын

the Atari 7800 was even better than the 5200 in terms of graphics.

@datacipher

2 ай бұрын

Yep… had both. The 5200 became my favorite by far for arcade authenticity but venture and some others on Coleco were among my top cartridges.

@SupremeNerd

2 ай бұрын

@@retroconsole_ i didn't think so. To me they were about even. Plus there was a major difference between graphics versus gameplay and for a lotta people, that was the difference maker.For example, the game could be all kinds of pretty to me, but if i couldn't play it, it would sit on the shelf collecting dust. Understand that that $30 was a pretty penny in 1982

@SupremeNerd

2 ай бұрын

Then home computers became a thing bringing you even closer to the arcade but the problem is still everybody couldnt afford one

@Dark_Lightning

Ай бұрын

Six months after the Atari 5200 launched, you could buy an Atari 400 for under $150. The 5200 was selling for a hundred more. The 400 was the true console replacement for the 2600 & was introduced in November of 79. You had Star Raiders, Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Frogger, Dig Dug, 4 player Asteroids & Breakout, Lode Runner, Pitfall, Centipede, Missle Command, Wizard of Wor, Robotron 2084, Qix, Star Wars, Mr. Do!, River Raid, Zaxxon, Gorf, and many other great games, in cartridges by mid 83. The Commodore 64, introduced in August of 82 for $595, was still selling for more than three times the cost of an Atari 400 by mid 83. From March of 1980, "Star Raiders" introduction, until the introduction of the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Atari 8bit line of computers were the best gaming platform.

Whew, that's a big comparison to take on. Great work, Bill, and happy new year. I'll have to try to watch through all of the comparisons over time. I wish I had got the chance to experience the Colecovision and Intellivision during the 80s (and I've never played a real intellivision: just on emus, Intellivision Lives, and the flashback). Dad borrowed the 5200 from a guy at work, at least once in the mid-80s. It was cool, but I didn't get to play much of it. The Colecovision I borrowed for a week or two from a co-worker around 2010 or so, and I have Coleco flashback as well. For me, the 2600 will always be number 1 between these 4, simply because of the nostalgia. Plus, I think the coolest thing with these comparisons, especially for hardware until the time where home hardware could meet or exceed the arcade is all of the interesting concessions that developers made to try to bring an arcade game home to much inferior hardware. Sometimes it didn't turn out well at all, but a lot of times the games came out fun with interesting quirks versus the original. Like...Space Invaders on the 2600 or 5200 is quite different from the arcade and each other, yet are both still fun. A lot of times the most fun is to see how different devs had different perspectives on capturing the essence of an arcade title rather than which version is actually technically the best. Not to say that raw technical comparisons aren't interesting and fun, but sometimes a game is more fun than other versions in spite of its shortcomings (2600 has quite a few games like this...NES too compared to some arcade titles...as well as ports to the handhelds like the GB, GG, Lynx, etc). Aside from Pitfall and Pitfall 2 and Decathlon, my favorite in this list that originates on the home systems and is not an arcade port is probably Dragonfire, and though I always loved the 2600 version, the Colecovision version is even better.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Happy New Year my friend! Oh definitely take your time on this. It's more of a reference video in case you wanna see how a particular game stacks up. The 2600 will always have a special place in my heart being my first console. The Colecovision & Intellivision were consoles that my brother and I picked up super cheap at garage sales in the late 90s. I hardly ever played them though because of the controllers and also I was probably at the height of my Goldeneye obsession so I was hardly even playing the Genesis by then. You're so right that even if a game is not technically the best on any level it can still be the most fun. In that case it's hard for me to be unbiased if I played the 2600 game growing up and not thinking it's the most fun. River Raid and Moonsweeper are great examples of that. Now I'm back off to work on another 2nd gen video that will be even more of an undertaking than this one..

@SupremeNerd

2 ай бұрын

Or the intellivision port of Demon Attack. I kinda wish there was a Colecovision port of Phoenix

Coleco: We really tried our best with your garbage platform. It's amazing it didn't explode trying to run the title screen. Mattel: Are you sure this was your best? Coleco: We're staking our professional reputation on it. Mattel: Mario is purple. And naked. Except for his hat, which somehow makes him even more naked. Coleco: We know. We're billing you for the development team's therapist. I'd get used to settling out of court, if I were you. Mattel: Do you really think you're fooling anyone? Coleco: We'll just have to wait for the market's verdict to answer that question, won't we? By the way, we're making a computer add-on. We're calling it the Adam. And it's going to help end console gaming as we know it. So enjoy your little kingdom while it lasts... Mattel: Is that how you see it? Because we agree...only we think it's the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Years later: INTV: (Pisses on Coleco's grave.) Bloody idiots, you were both right about ending console gaming as we knew it, even if it wasn't the way you intended. And seriously, what was up with that Mario sprite? You could have at least beat us honest, like with Burgertime. Did you know that was our pack-in? The best we had to offer, and our moldy old leftovers still couldn't come close to what you were serving. Atari 2600: (to self) I used 16k, and the eggs are just flickering squares. What are those brown squares? Cinnamon Toast Crunch? Where did I go wrong? What else could I have done? (We see Atari 2600 is mashing broken crayons into a coloring book. It has a hard time coloring in the lines, due to its shaking hands. Even Pac-Man's dots aren't really dots. Fortunately, it has a ton of crayons to break.) INTV: You did your best, with what you had and the time you had to do it. C'mon, grandpa, let's get you back to the home. Atari 2600: You! You're...are we friends now? INTV: Something like that. I made games for you, that were almost as good as the games I made for me. Atari 2600: (grins) I like games. Especially good ones. INTV: Me too, old timer, me too. Not far away: Atari 5200. (Hides in the shadows, bitterly resenting the limp and broken joystick that keeps anyone from taking it seriously.) My family has disowned me. I live in shame....and that...that senile Pong machine still survives me? IT'S NOT FAIR! My Centipede was the best anyone had ever seen! My Zaxxon had real isometric scrolling! I should be the winner of this console war, not a console that can't even remember its own sprite limitations! Mysterious voice: And yet, you've already been replaced. Atari 5200: ...ha. Like they'll ever release you. Get used to your prison, 7800. Atari 7800: I wasn't speaking of me, though my time will come. No, I was speaking of your family... Atari 5200: My family? How dare you call them "my" family...they adopted you. You were their chosen one. Show some gratitude! Some of us would kill to be you! And besides... they're a computer line. No computer could ever replace me! I'm the heir to the empire! A calm voice: I agree. Hello, 5200. I don't believe we've met. (Drawing a sword.) My pronoun is XE. I'm neither just a computer or just a console. Why limit yourself to that artificial binary? Atari 5200: Get away from me you perversion, you're not even in this video - The shelf life of the 5200 is cut short. Cue credits. End stinger: Scene: A dying wasteland in the near future. C64GS: The bastard console of the house of Commodore... GX4000: The bastard console of the house of Amstrad... C64GS: We meet at last, for our first and final duel. GX4000: Where 5200 failed, one of us will surely succeed. C64GS: Are you ready to die? GX4000: Are you ready to start, or are you just going to talk me to death instead? C64GS: Yeah, about that. Hang on, I'm still looking for my "T" key. GX4000: Your what? C64GS: My "T" key. You know - like, spilling the "T"? I literally can't play Terminator without it. I'm just stuck in this "T" pose...it's so awkward... GX4000: Thanks for explaining the long and winding path it took to reach those jokes ...if you're my destined rival, what does that say about the quality of my destiny? I think I'll pass on that dark future, thanks. (Commits seppuku by pulling own plug.) C64GS: (a long moment of shocked silence, and then...) I did that!

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

LMAO! Thanks for this, I needed a good laugh today.

@JasperTedVidalTale

3 ай бұрын

This comment is Golden

@SupremeNerd

2 ай бұрын

Why can i see this actually happening?? Lmao. Funniest stuff ever

Ringing in the New Year with a fun comparison! Happy New Year Buddy!!!

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Happy New Year my friend! I hope 2023 is good to you!

This is awesome! Thank you for your hard work.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for checking this out! I appreciate your support:)

woaw, thx a lot for your video, i didn't know there were so many games on these consoles. As soon as I had my C64 in december 1984 I kinda forget about all these gems. Well done!

@RetroComparisons

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much for checking this out!

Amazing! I was going to zip through this, but watched every second. Fantastic job!

@RetroComparisons

2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me:)

Unreal effort, thank you , epic.

@RetroComparisons

Ай бұрын

Thanks so much!

Man did I love Artillery Duel! I had Coleco. Such a simple concept

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Simple and fun, I love it!

@randyval2

8 ай бұрын

was that the dual cartage/ chuck norris super kicks

I have a great working 2600, excellent intellivision II, and a perfect colecovision. Like them all but the Colecovision has the best versions for the most part and it's not that close but there are always exclusives and exceptions. The 2600 has the best version of star wars the empire strikes back and an exclusive of Spacemaster X-7 (a great game).

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

The Colecovision is leagues ahead of the 2600 in the graphical and audio spectrum but there is something so fun about the simplicity of the 2600. I'd add Space Invaders as another example of the 2600 being better than it's graphically superior port compared with the 5200.

@basketballsteve54

7 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Yes you have it framed exactly right and in my opinion Defender is another 2600 games with very simple, blocky graphics that has better game play on the 2600 than it's much more beautiful counterparts on the graphically more advanced systems.

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

@@basketballsteve54 Oh yeah that is another great example! I love that port.

Loved my Colecovision back in the day.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

That was a beast of a console for '82.

I love videos like this. I was fortunate enough to have all these systems, and I loved each one! It's amazing to see what we thought was so great back then (well, they were).

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! These were all phenomenal systems and even if they haven't aged gracefully from a graphics perspective they're still just as playable now as they were back then.

Wow this takes me back 😮 i remember playing Lemmings in break at school many many years ago

@RetroComparisons

5 ай бұрын

Lemmings is a series that needs to come back.

And the emulator reveals all. I see what they did with Buck Rogers on the 2600 to get more sprites. They used an effective 25fps/30fps frame rate by only drawing each side in alternating frames. You could do that because the eye only sees things at a rate of around 24fps, although you might still see some slight flicker on PAL units, but shouldn't see any on NTSC. This trick didn't work properly in the emulator used.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

They were pretty clever with how they built a lot of these older games around the tech of the day.

@daviddavies3637

Жыл бұрын

@Retro Comparisons Yeah. When you look at the limitations of the 2600 in particular, it's absolutely mind blowing some of the things they did. Galaxian on the 2600 remains my favourite home version. I'm a programmer and I've dabbled with the 2600 but I'm clueless with how they got that working. Same with Berzerk. Given the hardware limitations, on paper, those should have been impossible.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@daviddavies3637 Oh I love Galaxian on the 2600 and that may be my favorite too much like Space Invaders which is also my favorite port. I'd love to hear stories of how they made some of those games. Another one that comes to mind is Solaris. I know it was later in the lifecycle of the console but without context I could easily believe it was a 5200 or Colecovision game.

@juststatedtheobvious9633

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Racing the Beam explains it all.

excellent resource -- just wish the brightness and color settings could have been made more comparable between the consoles. If the signal from my 5200 looked so dark and dreary as it appears on many of these comparisons, I would favor the other consoles.

I thought that I wouldnt love the 2600 version of Centipede and Millipede but I do. If you happen to have the 2600 Trackball is slightly better but these versions were made for Joystick but still no issues

@RetroComparisons

11 ай бұрын

Those are way better than they have any right to be. I've never tried those with a trackball but that sounds fun!

@joshuaehrnwald8745

7 ай бұрын

Definitely -- the 2600 ports of _Centipede_ and _Millipede_ prove that it wasn't about the graphics, but rather the gameplay. Still find myself loading up and enjoying the 2600-versions of those two games due to how great they play.

Colocovision clearly has the best graphics possibilities (for example visible in H.E.R.O.) - but sometimes, the 5200 version looks slightly better ... or "nearer to the arcade original". Example: Defender (blinking stars background) Maybe Atari had better acces to original game data / resources like sprite data & other graphics in some cases....

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

That's a very real possibility and would explain why sometimes they had the more accurate port.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

Just a couple weeks ago, I geeked out and made a spreadsheet comparing the specs of the first few generations of consoles. It's interesting to compare the specs of ColecoVision against the 5200. One was better than the other in some ways, but not all. Coleco had 2x faster CPU and 4x VRAM (16k vs 4k). The 5200 had more system RAM (16k to 1k) and a bigger color palette (256 colors vs. 16, but both can only display 16 at once). There were differences in how they handled sprites, but I can't remember what they were because I couldn't easily put them down on a spreadsheet.

@RetroComparisons

5 ай бұрын

@@benmoore6612 That's super cool and very interesting! I knew they were similar in the sense that they came out around the same time and were more advanced then the rest of the 2nd gen consoles but I love seeing stuff like this that shows their technical makeup.

We've really come a long way in graphics since those early 8-bit days. started off primitive and then Nintendo and Sega came along pushing graphics with their systems. 😶‍🌫 Seeing this video made me remember that I had Lock 'N Chase and Mouse Trap for the 2600 while I was looking at a number of videos trying to remember every game I had for the 2600/5200 and Colecovision. Can't help but miss the old days now and more since my mother is no longer with us and she used to love playing Burgertime on Coleco and whenever we went to Chuck E Cheese.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

It's wild to see how games were at the start of the decade in the 80s to how they ended with the Genesis and even better arcade hardware. Lock 'N Chase and Mouse Trap are both tons of fun. I'm sorry to hear about your mother:(

2:02 Why is the music for Gyruss playing for Atlantis ?

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

That's a great question. I did all of these games separately and then combined them into one video and something must have happened when rendering it. I didn't pick up on it until someone pointed it out the other day.

@madmax2069

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons haha, if only I had scrolled down, I would have seen that and probably wouldn't have made my comment pointing it out...

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@madmax2069 Haha no worries, I expect to see it a lot on here and deserve it. Usually I pick up on these things when watching the final product before uploading but I must have been zoned out.

@madmax2069

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons it happens

I love all of them.. but when comparing to these consoles.. nes is really high tech 😅❤ btw your effort is great 💯👏🎉💖

@RetroComparisons

Күн бұрын

Thanks so much for watching and for the kind words:)

Amazing! Love them all!

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

There's so many classics from these consoles.

While the Atari 2600 often had inferior graphics, the controls usually made up for that. Using paddles or a simple joystick was better than keypads and thumb disks.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

I'm with you on that. It might be bias on my part with the 2600 being my first console but I'd rather play a majority of these games on that even if it's the worst version in terms of audio and visuals.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

As a ColecoVision owner (well, my parents technically were the owners), I used an accessory in which a joystick was attached to the thumb disk. It was so seamless that I forgot that we didn't buy it like that.

@majorramsey3k

5 ай бұрын

@@benmoore6612 I still have my Coleco... The thumbdisc is raised like a fat stick in a weird sort of way. Other than that, it looks like a phone.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

@@majorramsey3k I know. I said I added an accessory to make it a joystick. I had to buy it, it didn't come with the system.

@majorramsey3k

5 ай бұрын

@@benmoore6612 I wasn't arguing. I was just saying what I have.

Damn coleco mogged on all the competition

@RetroComparisons

9 ай бұрын

Haha yeah it was the PS4 Pro in an era of PS3s.

i would say the 5200 has better scrolling and less flicker on many games but with less detail than Colleco.

Colecovision was superior about 95% of the time, as I expected.🎉

@RetroComparisons

10 ай бұрын

Yeah the Colecovision was like the premium console of the time right before the Famicom took over.

@retroconsole_

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Too bad Coleco made poor financial decisions and the company only lasted a few years, otherwise many more close arcade games could have been come into Colecovision. I liked it more than nes.

@oldandbitter

6 ай бұрын

Donkey Kong on Intellivision may actually be worse than 2600 Pac-Man.

@charlessentenat1250

4 ай бұрын

I'm kind of partial to 5200. No 7800 in this either.

@chris.b0

4 ай бұрын

Fand den 5200 oftmals besser

Intelivision held its own on a lot of these games!

@RetroComparisons

4 ай бұрын

Absolutely! There were a ton of great games and the visuals were a big upgrade over the 2600.

And Coleco had a Baseball game that was next level at the time _Super Action Baseball_ Nothing even REMOTELY COMPARED to it's graphics, on the pitching/batting portion

@RetroComparisons

10 ай бұрын

Oh yeah I've tried that one out and it blows every other baseball game up to that point out of the water graphically.

Graphics from this era always look chunky to us now, and almost equally so... but most of these games were considered *massively* different/better on one system or another at the time (with the 2600 almost always coming out in a distant last place). It was a much bigger difference than we see in modern consoles today.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

I find these older consoles to be fascinating for that reason. Starting around the 6th gen almost every port looked and sounded the same but back then there were massive differences between ports to the point that it almost seemed like a different game altogether sometimes.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

It's expected, after all the 2600 was released a few years earlier than the others

@RetroComparisons

5 ай бұрын

@@benmoore6612 It's wild how much a couple of years made such a drastic difference in audio, visuals, etc. back then.

You missed Gyruss for Intellivision! but there was a LOT of work that went into this vid!

@RetroComparisons

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for checking this video out:) I think Gyruss was only released years later as a homebrew. I could be wrong though.

@Have.An.AmicoDay

4 ай бұрын

yes, Gyruss only as a Intellivision homebrew, only 100 were made (i've got one),its better than the 2600 with a better music (Actually has partial NES soundtrack), but i'm not sure its as good as the colecovision (gameplay wise)... @@RetroComparisons

@RetroComparisons

4 ай бұрын

@@Have.An.AmicoDay Thanks for letting me know! I'm always interested in seeing the magic people can make on these older consoles.

Awesome!

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for checking this out! I saw your last comment and just saw that you found this one. I appreciate you watching:)

The problem with videos like this is that while the graphics are easy to compare, the actual control and gameplay isn't. Id argue that the 2600 games are easier to control than most on the other systems

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

The 2600 has the fun factor IMO too over the others even if in most cases that console is the worst in the graphics and audio department.

A+ effort here, very tough to edit this kind of video, folks !

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much! That means a lot to me:)

The Intellivision generally comes off well here. Better graphics than the Atari and no sprite flicker and pastel colours like the Colecovision.

@RetroComparisons

2 ай бұрын

It is a nice little in between console and since it's an earlier console you got some great games with some time before the crash which the Colecovision and 5200 suffered from within a year of their release.

@syrinx9196

13 күн бұрын

Unfortunately, it had a terrible controller.

als coleco vision 1983 rauskam war mein lebenslauf schon vorprogramiert

Now compare controllers. 2600 for the win.

@RetroComparisons

8 ай бұрын

Yes that wins easily in that category.

I just noticed how much James Bond 007 reminds me of Moon Patrol

@RetroComparisons

2 ай бұрын

I think they were definitely going for that vibe if not just ripping it off.

Why Gyruss music on Atlantis?

@RetroComparisons

11 ай бұрын

I think something weird happened with the cache in my video editor which occurs from time to time and I failed to pick up on it having the audio from Gyruss from a previous video I had done.

@SupremeNerd

11 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons I get it. I appreciate the hell out of this video too

@RetroComparisons

11 ай бұрын

@@SupremeNerd Thanks so much for checking this out! That means a lot to me. I am annoyed at myself though for letting that Atlantis/Gyruss mix up to make it to the final video.

@SupremeNerd

11 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons well, it's not that big of a deal to me. It was just me noticing stuff that's all. Maybe it's because the presented game didn't have music and you just added some to it. That's what I got out of it

My favorite retro game that is on all 3 consoles is Dragonfire. I had the Atari 2600 version as a kid and played the thing to death. As I got older I also bought the intellivision and Colecovision versions. Here is quick breakdown of each one. *Atari 2600 Dragonfire:* This is the simplest version graphically with exception being the treasures in the dragon room look the best of all 3 games. The Atari Team either had better artists or they just got lazy on the other 2 versions. Of the 3 this is the best as far as gameplay largely because the Atari Joystick was perfect for games like this. Especially when running around the treasure room where we have a nicely drawn dragon running back and forth shooting fireballs at your character and every level your dragon changes colors until they run out of colors then it just repeats. *Grade A+* *Intellevision Dragonfire:* The Bridge screen look much improved compared to 2600 version. They added archers to the bridge screen to make it more challenging and interesting. They also gave the Bridge Screen more depth by having castle walls in back round to add depth to the screen. The Treasure room looks basically identical to Atari version except now the treasure isn't pretty and animated like it is in Atari version. The Dragon behaves and looks identical to the Atari version. The Intellivision controller isn't ideal for this game and it will kill your fingers pressing the jump button after long sessions. Grade B *Colecovision Dragonfire:* They made so many changes to this version it's almost a different game. In the opening bridge screen now the Castle has much better detail you can even see each individual brick. The Water under the bridge is now animated with ripple effect in water. The castle backround walls add depth like on Intellivision. The bridge now on later levels becomes a draw bridge so if you time your jump poorly you'll end up in the drink. When we move into the treasure room now first thing you'll notice is the dragon no longer moves. The Dragon is given much more detail then in the other versions but it's a huge dissapointment he no longer chases you. The Treasure is much better detailed then Intellivisions but not as pretty as Atari's and not animated like Atari's. Despite it's flaws still my second favorite version of this game *Grade A-*.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

That's an excellent breakdown of these ports! My brother and I got so many 2600 games in the early-mid 90s at tag sales and yet this game was never in any of the shoe boxes filled with games. I really wish I had played this growing up because it's an awesome and highly underrated game that needs to get more love from the retro community. Thanks for checking this video out and for giving your thoughts on this amazing game:)

@Wallyworld30

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Thanks bud. I love videos like this that show the improvements they made or at least tried to make on the old school games. I recall in 1984 for Christmas we got an ADAM Colecovision Computer that came with Donkey Kong as the pack-in game. Coleco's Donkey Kong looked and felt like the arcade and put both Atari and Intellivision versions to shame. What's funny though looking back and playing the old games the graphics really don't matter it's the core gameplay that makes them so fun. So as ugly as Atari 2600 games are it's their core gameplay that make me want to keep going back to revisit them. Atari's Kaboom! is another of my favorite games and can't be replicated on emulation because you MUST play it with a paddle controller to understand why that game is so amazing. It looks kinda silly but 2 minutes of playing it with a paddle controller and you will get why this game is so special.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@Wallyworld30 Thanks so much for watching! I've always been curious about the ADAM. I've never been into computer gaming but since it's like a Colecovision it's been one of those that's peaked my interest in the past. I feel the same way as you were looking back on these now it's more about how they play and not so much how they look. In that regard the 2600 holds up really well though some of that may be my own personal bias since it was my first console. Oh yeah I know what you mean, without the paddle controller a lot of these don't feel right. I emulate these older consoles for the sake of having good looking footage but it can't beat the feel for the paddle on Kaboom, Super Breakout, Circus Atari and a bunch of others.

@billmcintyre3652

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons When I was 7 years old we visited my cousins family who's family was very well off financially and he had like 100 Atari 2600 games that was the first time I'd played Dragon Fire. After trying out all his different games I told him Dragon Fire was by far my favorite and that's all I played for the next 2 days on the visit. I recall about an hour before we left he told me I could have that game because he didn't play it that much. I was overjoyed and that was my go to game until my family finally got an NES in 1986 with Super Mario Bro. It's extremely rare on Colecovision when I finally found one as an adult I paid $50 for a single cartridge in around 2007. I just checked eBay and the game still sells for $50 Colecovision prices never took off like the NES stuff.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@billmcintyre3652 That's awesome that he gave you that game! My family didn't have much money growing up so it was always that way for me too where there would be a few select games that were my go to that I'd play repeatedly. River Raid was one of those games for me and I still can't get enough of that game to this day. I don't know why a lot of the 2nd gen games never skyrocketed in price compared to anything from the 3rd generation and on. You'd think there would be as much nostalgia for that than games from the NES era.

We owned a ColecoVision back in the '80s (and later an Atari 7800), and everyone who saw it who owned an Atari 2600 was absolutely floored by how amazing and near-arcade-perfect games played on it looked. Probably the most powerful console on the market until the NES and the Sega Master System rolled around.

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

I can only imagine. That must have been like owning a Dreamcast when it came out when all of your friends had a PS1 or N64. It's a shame the ColecoVision didn't get the chance of being on the market for very long.

@nicolanobili2113

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Yes, Coleco had a tremendous chance and they wasted it by losing millions for the launch of the ridiculous Adam home computer, while their video game console could have become the market leader. Incidentally, in Europe there was also another console, called Creativision, which had exactly the same characteristics as the Colecovision, and which even had a peripheral (ad adaptor) which allowed you to play Colecovision cartridges.

@ks-bg5uk

6 ай бұрын

I had Colecovision friends that came over to play Centipede with a 5200 trackball and Pacman all day. The also came to play Robotron with duel sticks. I went to play their Colecovision Cosmic Avenger and Donkey Kong. The 5200 and Colecovision ruled in 82.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

@@ks-bg5uk That sounds so much fun! Hell, that sounds like a great game night in 2023 in my opinion.

@datacipher

2 ай бұрын

@@ks-bg5ukyep and both. The 5200 became my favorite by far… my first games were pac man, defender and centipede… and of course defender and centipede jsut sucked badly on coleco by comparison. By the time I got dig dug, joust, the 5200 was my number one. Still loved venture and some others on coleco.

the coleco vision was supposedly just as powerful as the atari 5200, but was slightly faster in processor speed, insane how atari was loved but was also so far behind

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

I guess when you have brand recognition it can overcome inferior products at least some of the time. Not to say the 5200 was bad though.

@DoobyShoo

7 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons it’s all a sad story though, the Atari 2600 was only mostly trusted (even though all the shitty games) just because they made arcade games and had a higher brand name. Whereas the 5200 and 7800 both flopped when people finally saw the true like top tier consoles of the time and I’m sure if every other brand hadn’t gotten as much attention like Nintendo the 2600 would’ve been killed even more

@Bikeguychicago1

6 ай бұрын

The 2600 came out in 1977, The Colecovision and 5200 both came out in 1982, 5 years later. Under the hood, the 5200 was using technology from 1979 for most of its heavy hauling, so it's still pretty remarkable how well it competed against the latest and greatest of the time.

@Bikeguychicago1

6 ай бұрын

5 yrs is a generation cycle in today's console lifespan.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

​@@Bikeguychicago1 The 5200 & ColecoVision are oddities in that they should be considered like the 2.5 generation of consoles.

Colecovision was, without, the superior console of this era. It's not even close. Look at the Coleco version of H.E.R.O., for example. It looks like an NES or even an SNES game in terms of graphics. That said, the gameplay and controls on the Atari 2600 are great, probably the best of these three. The 2600 itself was built like a tank and those 2600 joysticks were just very responsive and suited the games perfectly. So yeah, something has to be said for the consistently great gameplay on the 2600.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

The 2600 is my favorite of these 4 as it was probably the most consistent (plus I have a lot of nostalgia for it) but the Colecovision was like the premium home console of its time. It sucks it had so short of a lifespan.

@captainbeastazoid7084

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Yeah, totally. I just got one of those Colecovision flashbacks. Pretty incredible what that thing was capable of considering it was a 1982 console

Frogger takes an drastic change briefly before this time stamp. kzread.info/dash/bejne/dG2HvMlsYLrRc8o.html It doesn't look like any of the others nor the 2600's versi9on. What's up? Also in so many screens the Colleco and Intellivision look so bright and nice yet the 2600/5200 are so muted and grey? Just check out the Frogger part I mentioned. Nice work overall. Quite the chore and your work is appreciated.

@RetroComparisons

7 ай бұрын

Thanks so much for checking this out! So for Frogger on the 2600 there's 2 official versions that came out for it. Rather than making it an extra long segment I thought I'd divide it in half for each part.

The Colecovision Buck Rogers graphics were amazing. Honestly, I thought it was the Flight Simulator on the Xbox series S. Xbox series X way better than all though.

Graphics power ColecoVersion Wins 1st place Intellivision #2 second best Atari 5200 #3 Atari 2600 #4 not bad

@RetroComparisons

9 ай бұрын

The Colecovision was a powerhouse for its time.

Intellivision BurgerTime the best !!!

@RetroComparisons

4 ай бұрын

That's such a great game!

5200 was basically the Atari 800

@ckatheman

2 ай бұрын

Actually, if I recall, there were two versions of Centipede. The original release on the Atari 800 where the graphics were lackluster, and then the 5200 version that looked much better (in particular the mushroom graphics). There was a rom dump of the 5200 version that ran just fine on my 1200XL.

@syrinx9196

13 күн бұрын

@@ckatheman Atari was very stingy with ROM. Some games that would have been much better were squeezed to fit into small ROMs to save Atari money. As time progresses, a particular size of ROM becomes less expensive. Also, programmers sometimes develop tricks over time to get more out of a system.

awesome

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for checking this out!

@brianmercerjr2282

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons your welcome

How is pole position better on 2600? Amazing

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

That along with Space Invaders are some of the best ports on the console. They did a fantastic job with those.

@potato9832

8 ай бұрын

Beamrider was also the best on the 2600.

I never understood how Atari outsold Intellivision and Colecovision.

I grew up with the Atari 2600 and a Commodore 64. The graphics caoabilities of the Atari 2600 always confused me. Some pixels ate extra wide long bars like the dots in Pac-Man and Lock N Chase. But yet some graphics show smaller pixels that are not sprites from how they look. I know the screen dimensions are very small for the Atari Screen resolution

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Yeah that's very strange. Maybe it was just a case of some developers knowing how to take advantage of the hardware more than others. Those dots in Pac-Man in particular are massive especially compared to Ms. Pac-Man.

@SchardtCinematic

Жыл бұрын

@Retro Comparisons Yeah I've noticed the earlier the game the more blocky the graphics

@litjellyfish

11 ай бұрын

Basically the resolution of the background is 40 pixels in width. Hence the wide pixels. The height is more or less the at the time normal 200. And the sprite resolution is also standard. So if there anything that looks more detailed then it’s sprites used in smart way.

@SchardtCinematic

11 ай бұрын

@@litjellyfish Thanks!

i was born in this era actually in 1970 so i went thru most of the video games systems back then. i played atari intellivision colecovision and more. i was mostly interested by computers like the commodore vic 20 or c64/128 and then amiga when they came out because they had alot more possibilities than gaming systems with carts. you could save on disks or hard drive and do alot more stuff like programming and print stuff or do bbsing with modems which for me is the ancestor of internet. those computers were also good gaming platforms. i still own many old systems today like atari intellivision coleco sega genesis dreamcast nes snes n64 vic 20 c64 amiga and more.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

I've always been a console gamer but being into computer gaming back then must have been extra cool. Being born in 86 I never really knew a world where computer gaming wasn't at least somewhat normal so when I watch videos of those older computers from the late 70s/early 80s I'm totally fascinated.

@maniaque37

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons yes it sure is fascinating and interesting. emulators and such are not a new thing. even back then there was many games from consoles that were made available on those vintage computers. the fact that you could program stuff made it easy for people to program games and make games that look similar to others on consoles and programming was much easier back then with basic. even myself who dont know much about it i could do some simple programming to do simple games. it was less static than put a cart in a system and this would open door to creativity to make new things and design our own. was so much fun... i miss it really but i still have those vintage computers in boxes somewhere.

I think we missed out when passing on the Colecovision. Came so close to getting one, but then went with the Atari 5200, which to be fair was still a good system, even though the controllers sucked!

@RetroComparisons

4 ай бұрын

The Colecovision was amazing for its time but the 5200 was no slouch. Those controller issues though are a huge problem with them constantly breaking.

@syrinx9196

13 күн бұрын

@@RetroComparisons The side buttons on the 5200 and Intellivision are also terrible. The 5200 is a beautiful controller but not functional.

How about Amiga, Atari 800, C64, etc.?

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

I don't know if I'll get around to those. I'm not well versed in computer gaming from any generation so it's never been anything on my radar. I would be interested in watching a video like that though.

@juststatedtheobvious9633

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons There's quite a few, depending on what you're looking for. Retro Core is the most exhaustive, in terms of covering every single port he can get working in time for the deadline, including some lesser known Japanese computers. Despite brief reviews at the start of every segment, his style is similar to yours. But he's also a bit biased against western computers...which he is aware of, and makes an effort to improve on, as the Battle of the Ports continues. I'd recommend his R-type Remaster (# 316) as a great starting point to see if his series is for you. Then there's Chinnyvision, if you want something more in-depth, since you're unfamiliar with the platforms in question. He seldom covers consoles or computers that didn't sell in the UK, but the limited focus means you get a really good idea of what each title offers...for better and for worse. Also, I practically wrote an entire introductory course to the 8-bit computer wars, and was about to tackle 16-bit, but...I think I've written a post like that before? I didn't want to bore you, if I had. You know me - any excuse to sarcastically rant about old games and the industry responsible for them is a good one.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@juststatedtheobvious9633 That's awesome! That will be some great stuff to put on while I'm working to keep me sane. Thanks for the recommendations! Haha hey I'm always up for sarcastic rants.

@juststatedtheobvious9633

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Well, then you're in luck. This video and comment section inspired two. The computer shoot out needs some work yet, but reaction to the console comparison is ready to go.. I apologize in advance for what it turned into.

@johnhunt1725

Жыл бұрын

The Atari 400/800 computers and the Atari 5200 game console are essentially the same machine under the hood. Games that run on both platforms are identical in every way. The same basic hardware powered the 400, 800, 1200XL, 600XL, 800XL, 5200, 65XE, 130XE and the XE Game System. These machines were produced from 1979 to 1992, which is quite an amazing run for an 8-bit computer platform from that era, and attests to the advanced nature of Jay Miner's first computer and forerunner of the Amiga.

Wow that's a lot of gaming in this video! Thanks and now we can clearly see how crap the Intellivision is most of the time. Thanks for confirming that needed fact.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

Lol no probs! The Intellivision had the unfortunate situation of being the middle child of the 2nd gen. It was more advanced than the 2600 but without the name recognition and less advanced than the Colecovision & 5200.

I've realized over the years that alot of Atari 5200 and Atari 8-bit computer games have almost identical graphics to games on the Commodore 64. Meaning the code was simply ported over from one system to another depending on what computer it was originally made on. Also the graphics are really hit or miss on the higher end systems. Goid example Pitfall 2 on 5200 and Colecovision. I feel like the Colecovision is lacking in its true abilities. Whole the 5200 version looks identical to my Commodore 64 version did. At least 95% the same I would guesstimate. Maybe a few color variations and audio differences at most.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

That's interesting. I'm very ignorant to most computer ports and hearing that about the C64 is fascinating. I really need to watch some C64 videos for games that came out on consoles like these to see how they stack up both in visuals and audio.

@SchardtCinematic

Жыл бұрын

@Retro Comparisons a good example is Pacman. On the C64 it runs a little slower but the graphics are pretty much exactly the same. Another game is Pitfall 2 on the C64 and Atari 5200. Almost identical in graphics. Although they may sound diffrent due to diffrent sound chips.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@SchardtCinematic Thanks! I'll start out with those.

@SchardtCinematic

Жыл бұрын

@Retro Comparisons You're welcome I can't wait to see your video when it's finished.

@SupremeNerd

11 ай бұрын

The Atari computers and the 5200 are the same architecture. That's why they all look alike or seem like the same. Perfect example is Donkey Kong and the Homebrew Donkey Kong for the 5200

The 5200 is a bit better than I remember. The 2600 always has better framerates tho’. ;-)

@RetroComparisons

Ай бұрын

There's just something so fun about a lot of those 2600 games too with their simple graphics.

The $$$ winner was the Atari 2600 due to it's huge library of games. Over 500 compared to Intellivision's and Colecovision's 100+ and the 5200's 69. No doubt that the 2600 was the most primitive as far as graphics and sound, but, after all, they were the first. I played mostly an Intellivision at the time. More playable than the 2600 and it was almost impossible to find games for the Coleco and 5200. Fun times and many an hour wasted in my youth. 🙂

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Great points on everything except wasting hours in your youth haha. As long as you had fun it wasn't wasted time. There's a certain charm to the primitive nature of the 2600 that I love and I think makes it last the test of time the way that other consoles of the same generation such as these don't get the benefit of.

@moderusprime

Жыл бұрын

The one draw back to the huge library of games was that 70% of them were garbage.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@moderusprime Wait are you putting down classics such as Chase The Chuck Wagon and Custer's Revenge?

@moderusprime

Жыл бұрын

@@RetroComparisons I was, of course, speaking about such great games like I Want My Mommy and Fire Fly.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@moderusprime Lol ah yes, those are classics. What teenage boy wasn't asking for I Want My Mommy for Christmas in '83?

Colevision games were far superior in every way..some even looked very close to the arcades.

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

It sucks that the Colecovision had such a short life because it was easily the most powerful console of its generation.

Coleco sabotaged DK for INTV. They made it terrible, on purpose! Look for the home brew.

R.i.p. those trying to understand shots in thumbnail

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

Trying to decipher such a thing is a total pitfall

@legendsflashback

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons 😂

@legendsflashback

6 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons great video tho

@RetroComparisons

6 ай бұрын

@@legendsflashback Thanks:)

I think Colecovision won most of them. Occasionally the 5200 impressed me more. Sometimes the 2600 version really wasn't that far off from the rest. As the underdog, I expected the 2600 to be the worst, but the Intellivision really impress me. Although typically better than the 2600 (as expected), it generally underperformed when compared to the 5200 and the Colecovision. At least that was my observation in this video. I did (and do) have a 2600, but was late to the game, as I was born in the late seventies. I played it in the early 80's, probably around the time the video game market was crashing, and the NES was around the corner. I only played it because of my older brother, who was born in the early seventies. I don't have much experience with the other consoles (a touch), so I could be wrong.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

I think you're right on with your assessment. The 2600 was the most primitive of these 4 but could hold its own on occasion such as River Raid, Pitfall 2, Space Invaders, and some other. The Intellivision came out a few years after the 2600 so it had the benefit of better hardware but the downside was not having the early advantage in the market. While the Colecovision & 5200 are considered 2nd gen consoles they're more like 2.5 gen. It's a shame they came out right before the video game crash.

@gertpacu3926

Жыл бұрын

Yah Coleco won about 65% and 5200 won 30% and the intellivision and 2600 were about 5%.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@gertpacu3926 That's hard to argue but from a nostalgic viewpoint I'd probably give the 2600 more wins. That's 100% biased though.

@datacipher

Жыл бұрын

You probably can’t tell from tiny tiny video comparisons but I had both a 5200 and colecovision and the 5200 was generally superior. Especially jn arcade games like defender or centipede. The 5200 version absolutely buried the cv versions of games like that. Some other games it’s more questionable… like Zaxxon or buck rogers… the cv looks much better jn still imagines… yet was clunky and choppy in okay while the Atari versions ran much much faster. Really the best cv games were ones not found on 5200 - like ladybug and cosmic avenger. Overall both were excellent systems. Cv started strong and then sputtered badly with not many new releases and a lot of dogs like subroc and time pilot. The 5200 had a lackluster release library - but defender and pad man and centipede made me happy until I got joust, dig dug etc…. If they had kept going and released sinister, tempest, super pac and all the other games that were essentially done… it would have been the best arcade library by far. Both died before their time.

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

@@datacipher I think both were massively underrated systems and like you said died well before their expiration date. Atari really had the edge on those classic arcade ports. If you're interested I also did a video recently with every 2nd gen console compared to the arcade and it really shows off the 5200 there.

Just a couple weeks ago, I geeked out and made a spreadsheet comparing the specs of the first few generations of consoles. It's interesting to compare the specs of ColecoVision against the 5200. One was better than the other in some ways, but not all. Coleco had 2x faster CPU and 4x VRAM (16k vs 4k). The 5200 had more system RAM (16k to 1k) and a bigger color palette (256 colors vs. 16, but both can only display 16 at once). There were differences in how they handled sprites, but I can't remember what they were because I couldn't easily put them down on a spreadsheet. Of course, the quality of the games on those consoles also came down to the programmers' abilities to make most of the limitations and exploit the "loopholes" within the systems. For example, the NES was widely seen as surpassing all of those 4 systems, but its actual specs were no better than the 5200 and Colecovision. It just had a few tricks up in its sleeves that the game makers were able to take advantage of.

@RetroComparisons

5 ай бұрын

Considering that the NES still squeaked out a few games in 1994/95 that's insane to think that it was on the same technical level as the 5200 and Colecovision.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons I overlooked what probably put the NES ahead of the 5200 and CV - it had basically a GPU (it was called PPU, Picture Processing Unit)

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons yeah the longevity of some consoles and computers was insane. Commodore continued to make C64 units until 1994. I guess we were more tolerant of slowness back then

@RetroComparisons

5 ай бұрын

@@benmoore6612 Haha good point! I remember seeing newer 2600 games in store in like 1990 as a kid which looking back at is nuts.

@benmoore6612

5 ай бұрын

@@RetroComparisons it makes sense when consoles and computers were much more expensive in today's dollar I guess

Coleco wins most of them, 5200 wins a couple times, 2600 wins a couple times, Intellivision is almost always the worst

@RetroComparisons

8 ай бұрын

The Intellivision was in a weird spot for these 4. It couldn't compete with the superior sound and graphics of the ColecoVision & 5200 and somehow the 2600 usually seemed to be the more fun experience even when it couldn't compete in any other category.

@syrinx9196

13 күн бұрын

@@RetroComparisons Depends on the game. Burgertime on Intellivision is excellent.

@RetroComparisons

13 күн бұрын

@@syrinx9196 That's true, it is an excellent port.

The Coleco version of Pitfall II looks like ass, surprisingly.

@RetroComparisons

8 ай бұрын

It's one of the few times the 2600 has the superior version.

@syrinx9196

13 күн бұрын

@@RetroComparisons David Crane: "Pitfall II was the first hardware-assisted 2600 game. The built-in DPC chip was arguably an early GPU, providing help for both graphic fetches and music. I always remind people that comparing plain vanilla 2600 games to Pitfall II is an unfair comparison."

@RetroComparisons

13 күн бұрын

@@syrinx9196 That's so cool! I never knew that.

The Colecovision version of BurgerTime sounds exactly the same as the Intellivision version and it appears that the Intellivision has brighter and more vibrant colors than the rest of the consoles of that time peroid.

I do got all the nintendo and a few sega gamea for those systems i do own as well🥲👍

@RetroComparisons

Жыл бұрын

Nice!